Your Facebook, Messenger apps may stop working; here's why

The social media company will be ending support for older versions of the app by the end of March.

If you fire up your Facebook and Messenger apps on your smartphone and find out they've stopped working, don't panic; it's all part of a maintenance and improvement job.

The social media giant, in its blog, said that it will be ending support for older versions of these apps by the end of March -- and it's already March 30 -- which will naturally affect a number of devices.

"We will be ending support for messaging in some older mobile app versions of Messenger and Facebook," it said. "We have proactively reached out to those affected and have also offered suggestions right in Messenger."

"Using older versions of apps means that experiences won't work well or sometimes not at all. As a result, we are asking people who are using older versions to upgrade so they can enjoy more of the delightful features," it added.

The suggestions include updating the apps to their latest versions, loading an OS update or migrating to Facebook Lite. And if your device could not support the latest versions, they suggest using Facebook through a browser, such as Chrome or Safari.

By the end of this month, support will be ending for the older app versions on the following platforms:

Android:
a. Facebook for Android v55, released on November 16, 2015, and below
b. Messenger v10, released on August 14, 2014, and below

iOS:
a. Facebook for iPad v26, released on October 10, 2011, and below
b. Messenger v8, released on July 14, 2014, and below
c. Facebook for iOS, released on October 10, 2011, and below

Windows
a. Facebook for Windows Phone
b. Messenger for Windows Phone 8 and 8.1
c. Facebook for Windows 8 and 8.1 desktop app

Furthermore, these are how users affected will still be able to keep in touch:

For Android users:
a. Versions older than 2.3 Gingerbread - Facebook.com through a mobile browser
b. Version 2.3 Gingerbread - Messenger Lite or Facebook Lite where available, or Facebook.com via a mobile browser
c. Version 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and above - update to the latest app versions of Facebook and Messenger

For iOS users:
a. Update to the latest app versions of Facebook and Messenger

For Windows Phone users:
a. Update to the latest app versions of Facebook and Messenger for Windows Phone, and Facebook for Windows desktop app

alvin@khaleejtimes.com